What is Behind Kim Jong Un’s Apology for the Killing of a South Korean?

Kim’s quick apology came as a surprise — don’t mistake it for sincerity.

Three months after the demolition of the inter-Korean liaison office, North Korea’s killing of a South Korean civil servant had the potential to sow more tension into the already troubled relationship. In the aftermath of the incident, the South Korean military denounced the killing as a brutal act and asked the North to apologize. South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in regarded the killing as shocking and said it could not be tolerated.

In a rare move, North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un issued a swift apology. The North can also not be certain about how the South will respond. An overly aggressive move runs the risk of empowering anti-detente South Korean conservatives and undermining Moon’s outreach altogether, while an overly soft approach might not be enough to induce South Korean concessions. The killing was not reversible. North and South Korea could find alternative channels of communications after the demolition of the liaison office, but a man cannot be brought back to life. Moreover, the impact of the killing left a worse impression on South Korea’s perception of the North compared to the demolition. Such a killing exposes North Korea’s grim human rights records and allows Seoul to blame the North for its violations of the September 19 military agreement.

This article was written by Khang Vu